Councilmen Mayoka and Cook Announce Huntington Budget Task Force

Town of Huntington Councilmen Mark Mayoka and Eugene Cook announce the re-formation of a Budget Task Force.  There are two overriding themes with the formation of this committee: they are to be proactive to make our government more efficient and to strive to maintain our triple A rating. Considering the 2013 budget has an approximate $8 million increase in spending along with proposed fees, this would be onerous in these hard economic times.

“This situation is a runaway train that needs to be stopped.  Why the Budget Committee of the 90’s was abolished is beyond me.  Let’s take a play from the Supervisor’s own playbook to stop these tough financial times from adding more pressure to the taxpayers of Huntington” stated Councilman Mark Mayoka.

“We encourage each of the Town Board members to have qualified representatives on this task force whose main priority is to look out for the hardworking taxpayers and business owners in the Town of Huntington” Councilman Eugene Cook continued.

The committee needs to focus immediately on the following recommendations:

*        Drastically reduce or eliminate the increased parking fees.
*        Eliminate the personal use of town cars.
*        Reject the proposal to raise salaries for all Town Board members and, instead, reduce all Town Board members’ salaries by 10%.
*        Control spending of special reserve accounts and require a super majority vote for
all proposed reserve spending.

Councilmen Mark Mayoka and Eugene Cook both agree, “We need to lead in this time of fiscal crisis, which is why we are willing to cut our salaries, in a time when many Huntington residents have not had the luxury of a raise in these tough times.”